Super Six – Mad Mane and Catastrophic Coates

Another weekend of football means even more things to laugh at, be it nightmare defending, player strops or one of the world’s most famous celebrities becoming friends with a League One striker.

Fox in the Box

There was an unusual sight in the Birmingham vs Stoke game this weekend, as whilst players warmed up ahead of kick-off, a fox decided to make his first appearance on the St Andrews turf. The fox ran across the entire pitch before jumping into the stands, as players and fans stood watching on with surprised looks. The animal wasn’t the only fox in the box in that particular fixture however, as 16-year-old Jude Bellingham scored the winner to become one of the youngest EFL scorers in recent years.

Mad Mane

Liverpool and Senegal forward Sadio Mane is often regarded as one of the nicest and most humble men in the Premier League, so it was a surprise to see him completely lose his cool this weekend. Mane, who was replaced late on in the Reds’ 3-0 win at Burnley, was absolutely furious when teammate Mohammed Salah failed to pass him the ball, instead choosing to shoot when it looked the far worse of the two options available. Mane is clearly hoping that this is the season he beats the Egyptian winger in the scoring charts.

Leeds United

Unlike most fans, it gives me no pleasure to see Leeds losing, in fact, I would love them back in the Premier League. However, it becomes difficult not to laugh when they once again bottle important games. The Yorkshire side faced fellow pace-setters Swansea in a top of the table clash at Elland Road on Saturday, and they continued the Bielsa-ball style that has seen them play such attractive football in recent times. Despite peppering the Swansea goal, the hosts missed a large number of chances, and couldn’t even take home a point, as the away side well and truly snatched it through a late Wayne Routledge goal, meaning that Swansea leapfrog Leeds in the table.

Celebrity status

In last week’s article, I mentioned a particularly impressive goal gif from Ipswich Town striker James Norwood, with excellent reference to a WWE legend, to which Norwood received a lot of plaudits on social media. So much, in fact, that when Norwood continued his goalscoring form in a 3-0 win this weekend, he received a reply from the Rock, the former wrestler who has gone on to become one of the highest-paid actors in the world. Not a bad weekend all round for the League One forward.

Dabo at the Double

It was a serious toss-up between this and the number one spot for funniest moment from this weekend’s football, but in the end, I decided this was just fell short. Fankaty Dabo might have made the list had he just scored his first own goal in his team Coventry’s game against Oxford, as he superbly volleyed the ball into his own top corner to give Oxford hope. Dabo’s afternoon was to get even worse however, as after Coventry took the lead in second half added time, Dabo managed to turn a late cross into his own goal to earn Oxford a draw and mean that Dabo had somewhat impressively scored two own-goals in the same fixture.

Catastrophic Coates

I’m sure a lot of you will remember Sebastian Coates from his mixed time at Liverpool. The Uruguayan defender was part of a poor era for the Merseyside team, and is perhaps only fondly remembered for his ridiculous goal at QPR. Coates has improved somewhat in his time at Sporting Lisbon, but had a weekend to forget in their fixture vs Rio Ave. Coates had already given away two penalties as the game approached it’s final moments at 2-2, but his afternoon’s tribulations were compounded when he gave away a third and final penalty in injury time, getting sent off in the process, and allowing Rio Ave to win the game 3-2. The good news at least is that Sporting won’t have to worry about Coates in their next game.

My name is James (Jimmy) Moorhouse, I am a recent graduate of the University of Nottingham looking for work in sports journalism. I have experience writing for a number of sites, covering a wide range of sports, but with a primary focus on football.